A9 Sr Lcs

User Manual: A9

Open the PDF directly: View PDF .
Page Count: 5

1011cmyk
12cmyk
13cmyk
14black

J. ALBERT DIAZ

Senior tax lawyer Robert F. Hudson holds the honor of South Florida’s highest billing rate after Baker & McKenzie

raised his rate to $925 an hour to bring Miami closer in line with other large U.S. cities.

DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012 dailybusinessreview.com A9

by Susan Postlewaite

Special to the Review

Global mega-firm Baker

& McKenzie in July raised its

hourly billing rates in its Miami

outpost across the board, lead-

ing the charge across the $900

threshold.

Miami managing partner

and senior tax lawyer Robert F.

Hudson said the firm brought

his office’s billing rates closer

in line with outposts in other

large U.S. cities. The lowest

partner billing rate in Miami

is now $625. Associate billing

rates now range from a low of

$270 to the $600s for a senior

associate.

The firm has U.S. offices in

New York, Washington, Chicago,

Dallas, Houston, San Francisco

and Palo Alto, California.

“We’re not identical because

we didn’t want to raise more

than a certain amount, but

we’re pretty close,” he said. For

example he said peers in inter-

national tax law in New York

are charging $1,000 an hour.

“I didn’t want to charge that.”

While many firms moved

selectively with hourly rates

hikes this year, not all were

buying into the new era of

modest post-recession legal

fee rate hikes, according to the

Daily Business Review’s annual

survey of lawyer compensation,

which included a review of fee

applications and invoices from

more than 40 firms.

Hudson is at the top end in

South Florida.

“I am at $925 now. We

raised rates across the board,

and we haven’t seen any mate-

rial push back. Of course clients

have only seen it for one month

so far. They are just now get-

ting August bills,” he said. He

added it’s common for high-

volume clients to ask for a 10

percent discount.

“I think people get good

value. So far it seems to be ac-

cepted fine, and we’re making

everybody work harder and

smarter.”

Other South Florida lawyers

are known to have rates in the

$900s.

The survey found most

South Florida lawyers bill in

the $400s and $500s. Many

hourly billing increases scat-

tered among partners and as-

sociates, but also found many

instances where rates were

flat or where firms discounted

rates or used alternative fee

structures.

Waiting For ElEctions

Joseph Altonji at Law Vision

Group in Chicago said hourly

rate increases nationally and in

Florida since 2009 have tended

to keep pace with inflation or

apply selectively for star part-

ners in sought-after fields.

“For years firms were rais-

ing rates by doubling the rate

of inflation. It ended in 2007.

Some people sort of wish that

was going to happen again, but

it’s not,” he said.

“There are firms in South

Florida doing extremely well

in the market and firms that

are doing poorly. I expect aver-

age rate increases in the two to

four percent range — at most

— with some at zero,” Altonji

said. “Firms are taking a much

harder look at individual per-

formance rather than just rais-

ing everybody five percent in-

stead of what they used to do.

“

Altonji said the elections

play a part. “Everybody is play-

ing wait and see — we are not

going to do anything until we

know what the new rules are,”

he said.

Among firms raising rates

for select attorneys, Greenberg

Traurig boosted hourly rates at

varying percentages; 3 percent

for one; 10 percent for another.

(For example banking partner

Mark Bloom’s rate rose from

$825 to $850 this year, and

partner Scott Grossman’s rate

went from $550 to $605. The

rates were disclosed in docu-

ments filed in U.S. Bankruptcy

Court where Greenberg has

been representing the estate of

the original BankUnited since

2009.)

Greenberg associates went

up to a high of $440 compared

to $400 in last year’s survey.

Like some other firms with

large bankruptcy practices,

Berger Singerman’s rates went

up by $20 to $30 per hour.

Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price

& Axelrod, whose lawyers are

ushering a Cabi Developers af-

filiate through Chapter 11, in-

creased rates for various part-

ners. Mindy Mora went up 6

percent to $600 from $565.

Klugler Kaplan Silverman

Katzen & Levine bumped

up rates, as did Ver Ploeg &

Lumpkin. Both are working

SPECIAL REPORT

Lawyers Compensation Survey

THE

THETHETHE

$$$

$$$$$$

$$$

925925925

MAN

MANMANMAN

MANMANMANMANMANMAN

MANMANMAN

MANMANMANMANMANMAN

MAN

MANMANMAN

At least one South Florida attorney is billing

more than $900 an hour, but clients are

increasing pressure for alternative billing

arrangements to control costs.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE COST OF LEGAL

SERVICES IN SOUTH FLORIDA

■ Want an international tax lawyer at a mega ﬁrm in Miami? It

could cost you $925 an hour.

■ Legal fees for unraveling the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law

ﬁrm’s Ponzi scheme? More than $20 million, so far.

■ An auto insurer that balked at paying a claim and loses a

Personal Injury Protection suit in court can end up paying $500 an

hour in Dade and $400 in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

sEE compEnsation, pagE a13

“

For years firms

were raising rates by

doubling the rate of

inflation. It ended in

2007. Some people sort

of wish that was going

to happen again, but

it’s not.”

JOSEPH ALTONJI

COFOUNDER

LAW VISION GROUP

A10 dailybusinessreview.com MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012 dailybusinessreview.com A11

Firm Location Rate

Akerman Senterﬁtt

Partner

Michael Goldberg Fort Lauderdale $595

Marc J. Gottlieb Fort Lauderdale $500

Of counsel

Joan M. Levit Fort Lauderdale $435

Associates Fort Lauderdale $250-$360

Aaronson Schantz

Geoﬀrey S. Aaronson Miami $500

Of counsel

Tamara D. McKeown Miami $425

Paraprofessional Miami $200

Baker & McKenzie

Partners Miami $625-$925

Robert Hudson Miami $925

Associates Miami $270-$600

Bast Amron

Partner

Brett Amron Miami $440

Associates Miami $265

Berger Singerman

Partner

Paul Singerman Miami $625

Charles Lichtman Fort Lauderdale $625

Brian K. Gart Fort Lauderdale $610

Leslie Gern Cloyd Fort Lauderdale $575

Frank Scruggs Fort Lauderdale $565

Christopher Jarvinen Miami $550

Sharon Kegerreis Miami $550

James Gassenheimer Miami $540

Robert Barron Fort Lauderdale $525

Nick Jovanovich Fort Lauderdale $505

Michael Greene Boca Raton $490

Ilyse M. Homer Miami $485

Marc Shuster Miami $415

Etan Mark Miami $410

Of counsel

Arthur Spector Boca Raton $600

Paul Avron Boca Raton $475

Debi Evans Galler Miami $475

Deborah Talenfeld Miami $475

Associates $295-$400

Paraprofessional $75-$200

Becker Poliakoﬀ

Partner

Peter Quinter** Miami $500

Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod

Partner

Scott L. Baena Miami $700

Alan Axelrod Miami $675

Firm Location Rate

Samuel C. Ullman Miami $640

Martin A. Schwartz Miami $605

Carey A. Stiss Miami $605

A. Vicky Garcia-Toledo Miami $600

Mindy A. Mora Miami $600

Howard E. Nelson Miami $575

Mitch E. Widom Miami $570

Jay M. Sakalo Miami $550

Jason Z. Jones Miami $495

Associates Miami $270-$435

Paraprofessionals Miami $190-$235

Billbrough & Marks

Partner Coral Gables $450

Bartram Billbrough *** Coral Gables $475

Ehrenstein Charbonneau Calderin

Partner

Robert Charbonneau Miami $475

Michael Ehrenstein Miami $450

Daniel Gold Miami $350

Associates Miami $180-$270

Paraprofessional Miami $90-$130

Furr & Cohen

Partner

Robert Furr Boca Raton $575

Charles Cohen Boca Raton $500

Alvin Goldstein Boca Raton $450

Marc Barmat Boca Raton $400

Paraprofessional Boca Raton $175

Gelber Schachter & Greenberg

Partner

Dan Gelber Miami $650

Adam Schachter Miami $475

Gerald Greenberg Miami $475

GrayRobinson

Partner

Robert Schatzman Miami $600

Peter Quinter Miami $500

Steven Solomon Miami $450

Robert Lewis Miami $400

Of counsel

Fernando Menendez Miami $350

Associates Miami $210-$250

Paraprofessional Miami $175

Greenberg Traurig

Partner

Mark Bloom Miami $850

Elliot Scherker Miami $685

Scott Grossman Miami $605

William R. Siegel Miami $540

Lorne Cantor Miami $525

Firm Location Rate

Patricia Leonard Miami $495

Associates Miami $265-$440

Infante Zumpano

Partner

Luis Salazar Coral Gables $435

Of counsel

Linda Jackson Coral Gables $435

Hunton & Williams

Partner

Thomas R. Julin Miami $725

Jamie Isani* Miami $475

Associate Miami $475

Stuart L. Koenigsberg P.A.

Stuart Koenigsberg *** Miami $475

Klugler Kaplan Silverman Katzen & Levine

Partner

Bruce Katzen Miami $565

Of counsel

Michael Landen $425

Associate Miami $345

Kozyak Tropin Throckmorton

Partner

David Rosendorf Coral Gables $450

Associate Coral Gables $350

Paraprofessional Coral Gables $150

Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider

Partner

Robin J. Rubens Miami $405

Associates Miami $260-$300

Paraprofessional Miami $170

Meland Russin & Budwick

Partner

Michael S. Budwick Miami $565

Solomon B. Genet Miami $435

Of counsel

Jessica Wasserstrom Miami $475

Associates Miami $250-$370

Paraprofessional Miami $94-$205

Perry & Taylor

Partner

Francis M. Perry Palm Beach Gardens $400

S.L. Taylor Palm Beach Gardens $250

Marlene S. Reiss Esq. P.A.

Marlene S. Reiss*** Miami $500

Firm Location Rate

Rice Pugatch

Partner

Craig A. Pugatch Fort Lauderdale $350

Associate Fort Lauderdale $300

Paraprofessional Fort Lauderdale $160

Rasco Klock Reininger Perez Esquenazi

Vigil & Nieto

Partner Coral Gables $550

John C. Shawde Coral Gables $550

John D. Eaton Coral Gables $510

Paraprofessional Coral Gables $150

Shraiberg, Ferrara & Landau

Partner

Philip J. Landau Boca Raton $440

Bradley S. Shraiberg Boca Raton $440

James T. Ferrara Boca Raton $375

John E. Page Boca Raton $400

Associates Boca Raton $220-$285

Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeﬀ &

Sitterson

Partner

David C. Pollack Miami $650

Patricia Redmond Miami $625

Paraprofessional Miami $195

Tabas Freedman Soloﬀ Miller & Brown

Partner

Joel L. Tabas Miami $525

Scott N. Brown Miami $425

Michael K. Northrop Miami $400

Associate Miami $400

Paraprofessional Miami $75

Talarchyk Merrill

Partner

David Merrill Palm Beach $450

Tina Talarchyk Palm Beach $425

Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin

Partner

R. Hugh Lumpkin Miami $575

Jason Mazer Miami $500

Meghan C. Moore Miami $340

Associates Miami $195-$245

Paraprofessional Miami $190

White & Case

Partner

Raoul Cantero Miami $695

* Rate before promotion to partner in April

** Moved to GrayRobinson April 2012

*** Rates awarded to personal injury protection attorneys by courts.

LAWYER COMPENSATION

A guide to our methodology

The hourly billing rates in the accompanying charts were

culled from a variety of sources, including fee petitions ﬁled

in federal and state courts from October 2010 to September

2011. In addition, the Daily Business Review examined bills

submitted to state agencies by law ﬁrms.

In some cases, the listed rates reﬂect what law ﬁrms reported

they charge. The listed rates do not necessarily indicate what

attorneys received for their work. Rates may have increased

since the bills were compiled.

The listed rates are for bankruptcy, commercial litigation and

other types of civil legal services. Rates for criminal defense

attorneys were not collected.

The charts are not meant to be a complete survey of hourly

rates for all ﬁrms and attorneys in South Florida. The Review

cannot say whether these are typical rates for the individual

lawyers and ﬁrms or determine what fee arrangements these

lawyers and ﬁrms make. For instance, it is common in fraud

cases for court-appointed receivers to work for reduced hourly

rates.

The data in the main chart are organized alphabetically by

law ﬁrm and by highest to lowest dollar ﬁgures for attorneys

and staﬀers. The chart shows rates for individual partners and

ranges for associates and paraprofessionals. If a partner had

oﬀered more than one rate, the highest rate was used. In fee

petitions, some law ﬁrms disclose a range of hourly rates for all

attorneys in the ﬁrm, but other ﬁrms don’t. For those ﬁrms, the

listed ranges represent the highest and lowest rates that could

be found in court documents. Rate ranges for some ﬁrms may

be incomplete.

SPECIAL REPORT Lawyer Compensation Survey

A12 dailybusinessreview.com MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

Post-Ponzi work contrasts hourly rates, contingency fees

by Susan Postlewaite

Special to the Review

Two flamboyant Ponzi

schemes being unraveled in

South Florida bankruptcy

courts are a contrast in bill-

ing — one was taken on con-

tingency, the other on hourly

rates.

The contingency case is pay-

ing off for Tabas, Freedman,

Soloff, Miller & Brown lawyers

hunting for assets from the

former University of Miami

booster Nevin Shapiro’s nearly

$1 billion dollar fraud.

Shapiro is serving a 20-year

prison sentence for bilking in-

vestors through his Capitol

Investments USA Inc., which

brought in $930 million from

investors over the years before

closing up shop in late 2009.

The latest accounting July

16 shows Tabas Freedman

as counsel to the bankruptcy

trustee has been awarded

$8.4 million in contingency

fees based on its recoveries for

the estate.

“I keep my eye on the ball to

bring in money,” partner Gary

Freedman said. “The fee is what

it is and what is approved by

the court. As we bring in mon-

ey, we get our contingency. The

court’s always made it clear

to us that we get money as it

comes in, and we’ve abided by

that 100 percent,” he said.

The contingency fee deal

was agreed upon a year into

the case when the estate

was empty-handed. Tabas

Freedman now gets one-third

of what it recovers.

The law firm bills sepa-

rately for partner Joel Tabas,

who is the Chapter 7 trustee

in the Miami case. Tabas’ first

invoice covering his work from

Dec. 11, 2009, to July 16, 2012,

seeks $457,885.

The trustee also is paid on a

contingency fee arrangement.

He is entitled to fees of just

about 3 percent of the funds

he disburses for the estate.

From December 2009 to July

2012 he disbursed $14.5 mil-

lion. The accounting was made

public in the first detailed re-

port of the estate’s collections

and disbursements.

Since late 2009 the lawyers

have recovered $25 million,

and the trustee distributed

$4.1 million to bilked investors

last year. Another distribution

is planned.

Freedman said more assets

will be recovered from a group

that has not settled.

“We’ve been in conversa-

tions with these folks for a year.

We thought we may be able to

resolve it pre-suit. It’s going to

evolve into full-blown litiga-

tion. It’s going to be big and

the claims are nasty,” he said.

“I don’t want to quantify it, but

it is substantial in the context

of this case.”

Rothstein FRaud

In Fort Lauderdale, bank-

ruptcy lawyers working on the

Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler fi-

nancing fraud are being paid

to recover assets on hourly

rates. These lawyers have

billed more than $20 million

in legal fees since the case be-

gan in 2009 after the collapse

of the $1.2 billion enterprise.

As of September, Berger

Singerman, primary counsel

to the trustee, had billed $14.2

million in fees and been paid

$9.9 million.

Paul Singerman said as of a

July 30 accounting the lawyers

had recovered about $100

million for the estate, but there

are settlements awaiting court

approval that will increase the

figure to $144 million. The

case is in the litigation stage

with more recoveries expect-

ed, he said.

Singerman said it would

have been better for his firm

if it were paid on contingency

because of the large recover-

ies.

He cited the settlement

with the Ed Morse family en-

tities for $30 million in 2010.

“We didn’t even file a lawsuit.

We had mediation, presented

our case to the Morses, and

we reached an out-of-court

settlement. We got $30 mil-

lion for the es-

tate. To date …

this firm’s total

fees received is

$12.725 mil-

lion in almost

three years.

The Morse fee

alone would

have been 10½

million bucks” as a contin-

gency.

Genovese Joblove &

Battista, secondary coun-

sel for the trustee, has billed

$5.38 million so far.

Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin, spe-

cial insurance counsel, has

been paid $1.2 million.

The trustee is holding back

about 20 percent of fees for

the firms until the case ends.

J. ALBERT DIAZ

Joel Tabas, left, and Gary Freedman agreed to contingency fees in the

Nevin Shapiro fraud case because the estate was empty-handed. Tabas

Freedman now gets one-third of what it recovers.

Singerman

DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012 dailybusinessreview.com A13

on the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler

law firm bankruptcy case in Fort

Lauderdale.

PIP Rates

Some personal injury protection

lawyer rates are going up courtesy of

the courts. Although they do not often

bill by the hour, courts have awarded

higher hourly fees for PIP lawyers.

Miami appellate lawyer Marlene

Reiss confirmed she was awarded

$500 an hour in a Miami case this

year. Before that she was getting

$475. “I do a fair amount of appellate

work. Based on 22 years of experi-

ence, that’s the hourly rate the judges

determined to be reasonable. Five

hundred is certainly the upper range,”

she said.

Fort Lauderdale lawyer Adolfo

Podrecca, a litigator with the personal

injury law firm Fazio, DiSalvo, Cannon,

Abers, Podrecca, Fazio & Carroll, said

his rate set by the court has been

$400, but the notion of hourly billing

rates “is a fiction” because cases are

normally taken on contingency.

“The last time I went in front of a

judge I was awarded $400, but that is

not what a client would want to pay

me. It is not a real example of what

the market will bear. Average people

would not be able to hire a lawyer for

$400 an hour,” he said.

On the other hand a federal judge

in Vermont told Miami lawyers from

Hunton & Willliams they were charg-

ing “exorbitant” hourly rates in a First

Amendment case and ordered fees of

$300 per hour for partner Tom Julin

and $200 for senior associates.

The judge awarded Hunton &

Williams $2.24 million in a successful

challenge to a Vermont law prohib-

iting use of doctor prescriptions by

pharmaceutical marketing compa-

nies.

But the judge’s order said: “Mr.

Julin’s average hourly rate for the en-

tire litigation was $670.66. Awarding

associates hourly rates over $400

would be unconscionable in this litiga-

tion where attorney Hemley, a compe-

tent Vermont partner with over forty

years of experience, requests an aver-

age hourly rate of $320. The average

hourly rate of nearly $200 requested

for Hunton & Williams’ paralegals is

also exorbitant.”

A reasonable hourly rate is “what

a reasonable, paying client would be

willing to pay,” and a reasonable pay-

ing client wishes to spend the mini-

mum necessary to litigate the case

effectively, the judge observed.

New FIRm

Meanwhile some new law firms

were setting hourly rates but also

looking at alternative billing struc-

tures.

Dan Gelber said his new firm Gelber

Schachter & Greenberg in Miami es-

FROm PaGe a9

COMPENSATION: New firms try alternative billing structures

see cOmPeNsatION, PaGe a14

Top-billing lawyers in souTh Florida

Partner Firm Oﬃce Rate

1 Robert Hudson Baker & McKenzie Miami $925

2 Mark Bloom Greenberg Traurig Miami $850

3 Thomas R. Julin Hunton & Williams Miami $725

4 Scott L. Baena Bilzin Sumberg Miami $700

5 Raoul Cantero White & Case Miami $695

6 Elliot Scherker Greenberg Traurig Miami $685

7 Alan Axelrod Bilzin Sumberg Miami $675

8 Dan Gelber Gelber Schachter Miami $650

David C. Pollack Stearns Weaver Miami $650

10 Samuel C. Ullman Bilzin Sumberg Miami $640

“

I am a big proponent

of fixed fees. I think more small

and middle size firms will have to

move toward this model to at the

very least maintain market share.

There are too many lawyers in the

marketplace.”

MICHAEL GOLDSTEIN

PARTNER

GOLDSTEIN ENVIRONMENTAL

LAW FIRM

A14 dailybusinessreview.com MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

tablished his hourly rate of $650, but

he said alternative fee arrangements

are common.

“We’re trying to have a little bit of

flexibility,” Gelber said. He is a former

state senator and Akerman Senterfitt

partner who started the firm in early

September with two former Stearns

Weaver lawyers.

“I do hear from clients with some

regularity they would like a different

approach because to some of them

they would rather have more certainty

in their fees. For others, it’s not as im-

portant. They want the hourly billing,”

Gelber said. One client pays a monthly

rate consisting of a blended rate for the

firm’s work as a group, he said.

Former Akerman Senterfitt environ-

mental partner Michael Goldstein, who

started the Goldstein Environmental

Law Firm in January with two associ-

ates, uses flat rates.

“Hourly rates can create an adver-

sarial relationship with the client,” he

said.

Goldstein said his rack rate of $675

can apply if clients prefer hourly bill-

ing, but he said 90 percent of his clients

want fixed fees because of the predict-

ability of it, or so they can pay by the

task. “My goal is to get to 95 percent” of

fixed-rate clients.

“We will do billable because some

clients remain more comfortable with

conventional rates,” he said. “I am a big

proponent of fixed fees. I think more

small and middle size firms will have to

move toward this model to at the very

least maintain market share. There are

too many lawyers in the marketplace.”

The survey found firms using other

alternative rate structures to replace

straight hourly fees.

In the Palm Beach Finance bank-

ruptcy case in West Palm Beach, Meland

Russin Budwick represents the liqui-

dating trustee for the estate and bills

according to a hybrid rate structure.

Meland Russin discounted standard

rates by 25 percent. It meant a partner

like Michael Budwick billed $424 an

hour instead of his top rate of $565. But

on top of the hourly fees, the law firm

is entitled to a contingency bonus of 10

percent of assets recovered for the es-

tate through litigation.

Altonji said of all the alternative rate

structures, the most popular form is

fixed rates, but they are not yet one-

fifth of the market.

“It is not taking over as fast as peo-

ple had hoped, but five years ago was

probably 5 to 7 percent of the market.

Hybrid fees are much slower in terms

of growth.”

FROM PAGE A13

COMPENSATION: Courts are ones raising rates of PIP lawyers

J. ALBERT DIAZ

Miami appellate lawyer Marlene Reiss had her rate bumped to $500 an hour from $475 by a

judge. “Based on 22 years of experience, that’s the hourly rate the judges determined to be

reasonable,” Reiss said.

“

I do hear from clients

with some regularity they

would like a different approach

because to some of them

they would rather have more

certainty in their fees. For

others it’s not as important.

They want the hourly billing.”

Dan Gelber

Partner

Gelber Schachter &

GreenberG

A9 Sr Lcs

Navigation menu

Versions of this User Manual:

Views

Navigation